Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Well, here I am again up in New England. My second most favorite place in the country. But I have to say after driving through the inescapable rain for three hours today; I can clearly tell you that I like New England a whole lot better in the summer sun. During most of our visits we've been blessed with warm sunshine. The rainy days have definitely dampened my enthusiasm for this place a little. Also, I've never been up here in the dead of winter. Never intend to, either.

The reason I am back here for a few days is to drop off a chipper 8-year-old who is beginning another magical three and 1/2 week escape from reality. She is attending summer camp for her second summer in a row. Real, authentic summer camp. Sleep-away summer camp. Summer camp at a place that has been host to thousands of young girls her age over almost 100 summer seasons. Summer camp pretty much in the place where summer camp was invented. Camp with daily swimming on the lake. Archery. Arts & Crafts. Uniforms. Singing. Tents. A garden where you can eat the veggies right off the vine. It's rustic. Bucolic. It's exactly what I pictured when I first found the brochures when she was maybe four years old. It's exactly where I would have loved to have gone if I had been given the opportunity.

So lately, instead of just living vicariously through her, I've been dreaming about making up my very own "Summer Camp," concocting plans in my head for an annual escape to New England -- Vermont specifically. We would buy a little cottage on the lake, or at least on a stream. Maybe a place with it's own private little pond. A cute place, a little rustic, no A/C, lots of land so we can plant a garden and maybe have a few pets.

But what dawned on me today is that our family is in NO WAY ready for the realities of a second home. Financially. Mentally. Work-wise. Physically. Shit, it's hard enough to keep up with one house, our 5-acres where the business resides and a freakin' rental condo. How would we manage another place thousands of miles away from home? Why would we tie up so much money for something we could barely use?

I learned a lesson today. My dreams are somewhat displaced sometimes. But that is OK. Dreams and goals change over time. Maybe when retirement nears we'll still want a little cottage in Vermont to escape the steamy Florida summers. But, then again, maybe we won't. Either way, I'll be OK with it. In the meantime, I'll just remember that I live a charmed life in a beautiful city. And be thankful for all that I have.